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  <div class="section" id="using-python">
<span id="using-index"></span><h1>Using Python<a class="headerlink" href="#using-python" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>This part of the documentation is devoted to general information on the setup
of the Python environment on different platform, the invocation of the
interpreter and things that make working with Python easier.</p>
<ul>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="cmdline.html">1. Command line and environment</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="cmdline.html#command-line">1.1. Command line</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="cmdline.html#interface-options">1.1.1. Interface options</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="cmdline.html#generic-options">1.1.2. Generic options</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="cmdline.html#miscellaneous-options">1.1.3. Miscellaneous options</a></li>
</ul>
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<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="cmdline.html#environment-variables">1.2. Environment variables</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="cmdline.html#debug-mode-variables">1.2.1. Debug-mode variables</a></li>
</ul>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="unix.html">2. Using Python on Unix platforms</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="unix.html#getting-and-installing-the-latest-version-of-python">2.1. Getting and installing the latest version of Python</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="unix.html#on-linux">2.1.1. On Linux</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="unix.html#on-freebsd-and-openbsd">2.1.2. On FreeBSD and OpenBSD</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="unix.html#on-opensolaris">2.1.3. On OpenSolaris</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="unix.html#building-python">2.2. Building Python</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="unix.html#python-related-paths-and-files">2.3. Python-related paths and files</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="unix.html#miscellaneous">2.4. Miscellaneous</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="unix.html#editors">2.5. Editors</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html">3. Using Python on Windows</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#installing-python">3.1. Installing Python</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#alternative-bundles">3.2. Alternative bundles</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#configuring-python">3.3. Configuring Python</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#excursus-setting-environment-variables">3.3.1. Excursus: Setting environment variables</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#finding-the-python-executable">3.3.2. Finding the Python executable</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#finding-modules">3.3.3. Finding modules</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#executing-scripts">3.3.4. Executing scripts</a></li>
</ul>
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<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#additional-modules">3.4. Additional modules</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#pywin32">3.4.1. PyWin32</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#py2exe">3.4.2. Py2exe</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#wconio">3.4.3. WConio</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#compiling-python-on-windows">3.5. Compiling Python on Windows</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="windows.html#other-resources">3.6. Other resources</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference external" href="mac.html">4. Using Python on a Macintosh</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="mac.html#getting-and-installing-macpython">4.1. Getting and Installing MacPython</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="mac.html#how-to-run-a-python-script">4.1.1. How to run a Python script</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="mac.html#running-scripts-with-a-gui">4.1.2. Running scripts with a GUI</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference external" href="mac.html#configuration">4.1.3. Configuration</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="mac.html#the-ide">4.2. The IDE</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="mac.html#installing-additional-python-packages">4.3. Installing Additional Python Packages</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="mac.html#gui-programming-on-the-mac">4.4. GUI Programming on the Mac</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="mac.html#distributing-python-applications-on-the-mac">4.5. Distributing Python Applications on the Mac</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="mac.html#application-scripting">4.6. Application Scripting</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference external" href="mac.html#other-resources">4.7. Other Resources</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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